Raheem Morris has been one of the most popular head coaching candidates so far this week, landing four interviews from teams that have vacancies. NFL rules prevent him from taking those interviews until at least three days after the wild-card round, so he hasn’t yet spoken to any of the four teams interested in potentially hiring him as their next head coach.
That time will come next week, whether the Rams beat the Lions on Sunday night or lose and have their season end after only one playoff game. As exciting as these opportunities are for Morris, his focus hasn’t changed.
His top priority is helping the Rams win on Sunday and advance further into the playoffs.
“I think as you go through this profession the people that request you for these moments, they respect winning more than they respect anything. So I think their expectations for me are to just present my best self when I talk to those guys and really just be authentic,” Morris said Thursday. “The pressure is really not on me. The pressure is really not on anybody that I work with or anybody that goes across this business. It’s really just I’m going to do what I do best in order to provide my best information for those guys when I get to that point and I’m not at that point yet. I’m still focusing on Detroit. I’m worried about trying to go out here and get a victory for the LA Rams. I really believe I’ll handle that when that time comes and is there because Raheem Morris, in the third person speaking, I’m going to be the same person anyway. So I have to go give them my best self and my best version is required.”
The four teams that have requested to interview Morris are the Falcons, Panthers, Commanders and Chargers. Morris spent time with two of those franchises in the past, so he has some familiarity with the Falcons and Washington after being on each of their staffs earlier in his career – including as the Falcons’ interim head coach in 2020.
Morris drew interest from other teams last offseason, too, and was even a finalist for the Colts job before Shane Steichen was hired, but it seems even more likely that he’ll get a head coaching job this offseason after three years as the Rams’ defensive coordinator.